Etching of glass has been around for a
    long time. Hydroflouric  and other acids were
    used before the turn of the century to create
    pictures and patterns on glass. The industrial
    revolution brought us motorization and
    eventually compressed air. The availability of
    compressed air gave a new dimension to the
    process. Deeply carved figures now could be
    rendered in three dimension in the glass
    surface.
        We take the piece to be etched and cover
    it with a resilient vinyl mask. When carving, a
    thicker vinyl is used to protect the glass from
    higher pressure.
        Patterns may be scanned, imported, or
    drawn into the computer and manipulated to
    fit any desired size of glass and then cut on a
    special plotter. For carving, glass is usually
    masked with the heavy vinyl and hand cut.
        The piece is then taken into a blast cabinet
    where very fine pressurized particles of
    aluminum oxide are shot at it. The vinyl
    protects the glass and keeps it clear while the
    exposed glass surface is chipped away in tiny
    fragments.
        Carving is done by lifting off an area and
    blasting with higher pressure in order to dig
    into the glass. After the first areas are
    blasted, the next area of mask is removed
    and that area is blasted. The technique is
    called stage blasting and creates a three
    dimensional effect in the glass. The thicker
    a piece of glass is, the more dimension it
    allows.
HOW IT'S DONE
DESIGN
DESIGN
McCANDLESS
McCANDLESS
Generating a mask
Applying mask to the glass
Blasting
Stripping the mask
Finished product
Larger projects require extreme
measures....
....and get extreme results.
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